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Weekend of Celebrations

This was the weekend I've been waiting for since July. Yes, July! When we were in Lynchburg, Tn. over the week of the 4th, we learned about the "Lighting of the Barrels". Lynchburg, being the home of Jack Daniel's, doesn't have a Christmas Tree. Oh, no....they have whiskey barrels in the shape of a tree that is decorated. Then, they light it on the first weekend in December. It really was quite a sight:

We were going to go down on Friday...I took a personal day & CH was going to take a half-day.But, it was supposed to rain, and to be quite honest, there isn't that much to do in Lynchburg that would have constituted that much time down there. On top of that, we didn't want to "set up" in the dark. So, we stayed home Friday, watched our Small Town football team get beat for the first time in the State Championship Game (I think I jinxed them in my Wed. Hodgepodge Random Thought!), and headed out on Saturday morning. Things didn't look too great as we headed out:

But, by the time we got to Lynchburg, the rain had stopped. It was windy and cold, but it was just about perfect weather for a small town Christmas Parade:

We had reservations to eat at Miss Mary Bobo's. Our hostess was incredibly funny and very entertaining. The food was just as good (if not better) than last time. On the menu: chicken & dressing, gravy, ham, sweet potato casserole (with Jack as an ingredient, of course), macaroni & cheese, green beans, fried okra, cranberry sauce (homemade), apples (with Jack), rolls, and fudge pie with whipped cream (again, with some Jack in it!) for dessert. Our hostess gave us some tips on cooking with Jack: Take a small bottle of Jack Daniel's (not the airplane bottle!) and get 3 vanilla pods. Scrape the vanilla into the bottle and put it in the pantry for 3 weeks. Use that instead of vanilla, and you kick your recipe up a notch! I can't wait to try it! She said it's really good in eggnog or boiled custard. I'm thinking it will be excellent in some of my candy recipes!

Another must while we were there was running by Nina's and getting some her chocolate with Tennessee Fire in it. I'm going to try to duplicate them at home, now that I know what her "secret" is!

We "camped" just off of the town square, in the "city" park. It turns out it is just behind Miss Mary Bobo's! (Not that Lynchburg is that big; we walked over to Jack Daniel's from our camper.) I was very surprised that we were the only ones who stayed the night! There is electricity and public bathrooms. There are no shower facilities, which was another reason we only stayed for 1 night. If you get there when the courthouse is open, you can run in and pay the $20/night fee. Or, you can go down to the jail and pay it...or just mail it to them. They're that kind of community!

We got up Sunday and drove the 3+ hours home, took showers, washed some clothes, and headed out to CH's company Christmas Party. It was an "adult only" party, and it was held the same place as 4 years ago. I didn't take any pictures. For some reason, the boat never was level; it tilted to one side the whole time we were on it. The food was excellent, though.That pretty much wraps the weekend up. 2 more weeks and we're out for Christmas Break; this year is flying by!

7 comments:

That sounds like a fun way to spend the weekend! We've thought occasionally about making a stop on our way south, but we've taken to driving the "long way" through your neck of the woods so we can avoid having to drive through Atlanta (plus, I think it's a prettier drive). I think we're going to have to re-think that one of these days. ;-)